Memorial Day activities around the world

Branden Chojnacki visits the grave of his grandfather Roy Hughey, a Korean War veteran, at the Great Lakes National Cemetery in Holly, Mich., Monday, May, 28, 2012.

Detroit Free Press

Susie Udarbe, of Monterey, Calif. pauses amidst rows of American Flags while visiting her fathers grave on Memorial Day at Mission Memorial Park in Seaside, Calif. on Monday May 28, 2012. Udarbe said her father Sebastian Udarbe was a World War II and Korean War veteran.

Monterey County Herald

President Barack Obama is seen at the Vietnam Veterans Memorial Wall on the National Mall during a Memorial Day ceremony, Monday, May 28, 2012 in Washington.

AP

Flags cover the grounds of the Veterans Garden section of Crestview Memorial Park Monday in observance of Memorial Day.

Posters of fallen military heroes are displayed at the Memorial Day service at the Ivy Green Cemetery in Bremerton on Monday.

Julia Douglas, 18, of Honolulu, watches lanterns float by at the Floating Lantern Hawaii ceremony in Honolulu on Monday, May 28, 2012. Some 40,000 participants floated roughly 3,500 candle-lit lanterns into the ocean to memorialize loved ones at the annual event.

AP

A color guard made up of Harlingen Fire Department firefighters and Harlingen police officers presented the American and Texas flags, as well as flags representing the different military branches during a Memorial Day ceremony at Pendleton Park in Harlingen, Texas on Monday, May 28, 2012.

VALLEY MORNING STAR

American Robert Dryfoos, left, from Conn., with Khalil Diallo walks around layers of tombs after attending Memorial Day rites at the American Cemetery in suburban Taguig, south of Manila, Philippines on Sunday May 27, 2012. The cemetery site contains the largest number of U.S. military dead of World War II.

AP

A Border Patrol color guard listens as Taps is played during a Memorial Day ceremony at Desert Lawn Cemetery in Yuma, Ariz. Monday morning, May 28, 2012.

The Yuma Sun

World War II submarine veterans of the USS PARCHE (SS-384) Base of the United States Submarine Veterans, Inc., of Ventura County (from left) John Wells, Joe Schultz, Bill Reitz and Charlie Kennedy, salute following the conclusion of the laying of wreaths during the 41st annual Veterans Avenue of Flags Memorial Day Services at Ivy Lawn Memorial Park on Monday, May 28, 2012.

Ventura County Star

Ron Gitkos salutes a United States flag during a Memorial Day service in Exeter, Pa., on Monday, May 28, 2012. Gitkos served in the U.S. Navy from 1968-1972.

The Citizens' Voice

Fred Harrison, his sister-in-law, Linda Blalack and her dog Sprinter rest and look at pavers after listening to the Memorial Day program put on by the Concho Valley Vietnam Veterans Chapter 457 at the Vietnam Veterans Memorial on Knickerbocker Road. The event brought out about 200 people who got to listen to speaker retired Marine Corps Maj. Donnie Dunagan and hear about the eight new pavers put in.

Joint Base Lewis-McChord soldiers hold enlarged color posters individually honoring Washington state service members killed in recent wars as attendees for the annual Memorial Day services walk past the steps of the Legislative Building in Olympia, Wash., Monday, May 28, 2012.

The Olympian

Sherrie Andress of Socastee, looks to the sky as members of the Special Forces Association Parachute team land in the Market Common during the Military Appreciation Days Closing Ceremony at Valor Memorial Garden in Myrtle Beach, S.C., Monday, May 28, 2012.

The Sun News

American flags ornament the graves of the known and unknown soldiers in recognition of Memorial Day at the National Cemetery on the Rock Island Arsenal in Rock Island, Ill, on Monday, May 28, 2012.

The Dispatch

A color guard made up of Harlingen Fire Department firefighters and Harlingen police officers present the American and Texas flags, as well as flags representing the different military branches during a Memorial Day ceremony at Pendleton Park in Harlingen, Texas on Monday afternoon, May 28, 2012.

VALLEY MORNING STAR

Capt. Shelby Stratton, air boss of the USS Stennis, was the keynote speaker at the Memorial Day service at Ivy Green Cemetery in Bremerton on Monday. He recalled his uncle, a USMC aviator who perished in the Korean War.

Members of the Peninsula VFW Post 1854 Honor Guard display the colors at at Memorial Day Service at the Ivy Green Cemetery in Bremerton on Monday. From left, they are Ted Streete, USMC (ret.) sergeant major; Dale Goheen, center, a U.S. Navy veteran; and Bob Cate, right, a USMC (ret.) sergeant major.

A member of the American Legion Post 390 from Raymondville, Texas, participates in a 21 gun salute at a Memorial Day ceremony at Pendleton Park in Harlingen, Texas on Monday afternoon, May 28, 2012.

VALLEY MORNING STAR

DAV past state commander Lynn Prosser holds an American flag high during the 2012 Memorial Day ceremony by the Grand Strand Patriotic Alliance at the Myrtle Beach Convention Center in Myrtle Beach, S.C., Monday, May 28, 2012.

The Sun News

Republican presidential candidate, former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney, center, Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., right, and San Diego Veteran of the year Marine David Dickey stand together during a campaign stop at the Veterans Museum & Memorial Center, Monday, May 28, 2012 in San Diego.

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Lanterns float at the Floating Lantern Hawaii ceremony in Honolulu on Monday, May 28, 2012. Some 40,000 participants floated roughly 3,500 candle-lit lanterns into the ocean to memorialize loved ones at the annual event.

AP

AP

C-17 Fly-over 452nd AMW, March Field, Riverside, CA., at he 22nd Conejo Valleys Memorial Day Services at Pierce Brothers Valley Oaks Memorial Park. The event featured 1,400 flags decorating graves; and music by the Air National Guard Band of the Southwest and local choirs.

Ventura County Star

President Barack Obama and first lady Michelle Obama at the Vietnam Memorial on the National Mall in Washington, Monday, May 28, 2012.

Associated Press file photo

Debi Reinbold kneels by the grave of her husband after a Memorial Day Ceremony at the Naples Memorial Gardens in North Naples on May 28, 2012. Reinbolds husband had been in the Navy but died in a motorcycle accident after his service. The ceremonys theme was Wounded Warriors, with keynote speaker Bobby Joseph, a local Marine who was wounded from an Improvised Explosive Device while on foot patrol in Iraq in 2006.

Naples Daily News

Members of the Lake City Emblem Club, from left, Ethel LaRose, Opal Johnson, Dianne Salmonsen, and Betty Edwards wait to parade during the annual Memorial Day celebration at the Evergreen-Washelli Seattle Veterans Memorial Cemetery on Monday, May 28, 2012. The event was the 86th annual Memorial Day celebration held at Evergreen-Washelli cemetery.

seattlepi.com

Gen. John Allen, the top U.S. commander in Afghanistan, observes Memorial Day by reading a letter written by an American soldier to his family before he died earlier this year, at the ISAF headquarters in Kabul, Afghanistan, Monday, May 28, 2012.

AP

Participants wade into the ocean to send off lanterns at the Floating Lantern Hawaii ceremony in Honolulu on Monday, May 28, 2012. People floated roughly 3,500 candle-lit lanterns into the ocean to memorialize loved ones at the annual event.

AP

Members of the New York Yankees participate in a Memorial Day celebration before a baseball game against the Los Angeles Angels in Anaheim, Calif., Monday, May 28, 2012.

AP

Royce Ingram of VFW Post 8878 salutes after laying a red wreath at the gravesite of fellow soldier David Gibbs Monday morning during the Memorial Day ceremony at Crestview Memorial Park.

rclea@classicnet.net

Jennifer Shanahan, right, the president of the Marco Island Sunshine Rotary Club, and members of the Marco Island Big Flag Committee hoist a 12-by-18-foot American flag on a 50-foot flag pole at the base of the Judge S.S. Jolley Bridge on Monday on Marco Island. The southbound lanes of the bridge were briefly closed for the Memorial Day dedication ceremony. The privately funded project took about seven months to come to fruition.

Naples Daily News

Bill Hall plays Taps as part of the Memorial Day ceremony on the Rock Island Arsenal in Rock Island, Ill, on Monday, May 28, 2012.

The Dispatch

A member of the American Legion Post 390, from Raymondville, Texas, plays Taps while an American flag flies suspended from the ladder of a Harlingen Fire Department fire truck. The flag had previously been flown by American soldiers in Iraq on Memorial Day in 2009. The playing of Taps, along with a 21 gun salute, were part of Memorial Day observances in Harlingen, Texas on May 28, 2012.

VALLEY MORNING STAR

A veteran salutes as the color guard is dismissed during a Memorial Day ceremony at Pendleton Park in Harlingen, Texas on Monday, May 28, 2012.